Red Cross joins hands in providing relief

Joining the elaborate aid operations in quake-hit areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Red Cross Society and other Red Cross agencies have sent a large number of urgently-required relief material for the affected people, including tents and blankets.

The Indian Red Cross Society, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross had supplied 1,26,000 blankets, 1090 tents besides a large number of food articles and other items of necessity.

These items were despatched to Srinagar and Jammu, Murli S Deora, vice president of the IFRCRCS, said in a statement in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The Red Cross agencies also sent 25,600 sets of kitchenware, 5000 'pheruns' (traditional Kashmiri dress worn in winters), 300 food parcels and 700 first aid boxes and jackets, he said, adding that a water purifying plant with a capacity of 1,20,000 litres per day had also been installed and was operational at the Uri Hospital.

Noting that the Red Cross agencies of India were in the forefront of providing relief materials to the quake victims, Deora said the national headquarters of the IRCS was in regular contact with their Jammu and Kashmir branch for coordinating relief work and despatch of further aid materials.